Guide to Greek Drama Author:Myron Stagman Storylines, highlights, and deeper meanings of all 44 surviving tragedies and comedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. Format: biographical & historical background information for each playwright; individual play begins with an excerpt from the dialogue on the title page, Dramatis Personae, the Essay on the play, the... more »n a Concluding Comment, featuring an anecdote or other item of interest. Imparts information on various subjects touching the plays: the plague (quoting from the first and best documentary account to come down to us on the nightmarish epidemic -- the account of Thucydides); city-states Sparta and Athens; the Persian and Peloponnesian wars; Greek mythology and the Greek theatre; women?s rights advocacy by Aeschylus and Euripides; Athens? participatory democracy; ethics and idealism as opposed to materialism; the earliest utopias, etc. Note: GUIDE TO GREEK DRAMA is both a reference book and a work intended for general reading to introduce all of these ancient Athenian plays in a reader-friendly manner.« less